I have been a big fan of photo books, these new self-published editions that let users create photo collections that look professional with high-quality paper and bound covers.

I have tried many of these over the years, mostly as gifts for my parents, wife and friends. Some results were excellent; others were, to be polite, less so. One of the most frustrating parts is the software provided to make the books usually is very rigid and not very customizable.

However, one of the pioneers in the field, My Publisher (www.mypublisher.com), has released a new version of its software that lets users do much more. Its BookMaker 2.0 is an excellent way to make one of these books with either a Mac or Windows computer.

You start by downloading the free software, which takes only moments over a high speed connection. After a quick install, you double-click the icon and you are presented with your My Pictures folder.

The software follows five tabs to make it simple: Get Photos, Organize, Make Book, Preview and Purchase. You just work your way down the tabs.

You drag and drop photos from any folder on your hard drive into the BookMaker software in any order. You can see the photos you've left behind in a handy toolbar so you don't forget any.

After you've located the photos, you are presented with a large window with thumbnails in which you reorganize the photos by dragging and dropping them around. (You also can use a handy auto-fill feature that sizes and adds your photos to a book.)

Once in the book, you can pick various layouts (many more than other products) and add captions or not. You also can delete photos and move them around within the layout.

Then you can pick your cover (from many choices and colors) and your book size (from small to large) and the quality of your cover. You can expect a large 20-page photo book with a quality cover to run you about $30.

The best part of the layouts is the variety. When you select two or three photos per page, say, you are offered a number of different variations to make the book more visually interesting (one photo larger than the other two, two large and one small, etc.).

Photos can even be bled all the way to the edge for a great effect.

Once you finish, you can pick what kind of cover you want.

Lots of colors and designs, including an attractive window version that shows a photo on an inside page through a square on the front cover. You also can get a version with a sticker of one of your photos on the front.

There are some other choices on the market — Mac users can play with the excellent IPhoto application, for example — but overall I found BookMaker 2.0 a great choice. The book I ordered for a gift turned out better than I expected and looks as professional as a store-bought book.

It's a great choice for a gift or a keepsake.

WEEKLY WEB WONDER: Google, in its continuing trek to take over the world, has announced Google Patents, a new way to search the contents of U.S. patents. See it at www.google.com/patents.

---

James Derk is co-owner of CyberDads, a computer repair company, and a computer columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His e-mail address is jim@cyberdads.com.